32 They have an affair
"I won't do it!"
Wu Xia shrugged, turned her face away, and her ears turned red.
"...Mom, just consider this as helping me this time, okay?"
Ni Yue pulled Wu Xia's sweaty arms with both hands and begged non-stop.
The mother and daughter were squeezed in the middle of the sofa. Wu Xia's plastered leg was placed on the coffee table with a small towel underneath.
The old-fashioned soy sauce-colored fan made a "crackling" sound above their heads.
After a brief silence, Wu Xia turned her head again and said in a tone that brooked no argument, "I can help you with anything, except this embarrassing thing!"
She had gained weight visibly in the past two days, with as much as 400 grams of fat squeezed out between her chin and neck.
"Mom, have I ever begged you for anything in my life?" Ni Yue lowered his posture again. "I can overcome other difficulties by myself, but this is the only thing you can help me with! Besides, don't you always think that bathing people isn't a serious job? Today is a good opportunity for you to understand!"
Wu Xia pouted, her thick lips pouting high, "I don't want to understand!"
He used to chase me and ask questions, but now he says he doesn’t want to know! Ni Yue rolled his eyes in anger.
His fingers unconsciously grabbed hard, and unexpectedly rubbed out mud strips on Wu Xia's big arms.
He pinched it and held it under her nose, "Look at you, you haven't showered in a few days, your body is so sticky - it's all mud!"
Wu Xia hissed, shook her arms, and rubbed her elbows twice, and sure enough, a longer strip of mud came out.
She was not used to air conditioning, so she only turned on the fan at home during the day. However, the old-fashioned fan was as old as she was, and also had half a lame leg. The trembling breeze felt like a tickle on her body, which was far from enough to keep her cool, and naturally made her sweat.
Ni Yue leaned over and pretended to smell it, adding fuel to the fire, "Take a good smell of yourself, you're almost rotten!"
Wu Xia was embarrassed and said unhappily, "My nose isn't very good, I can't smell it! Besides, if it goes bad, you don't need to bother me. I can wash it myself later on the chair!"
"Okay, wash it yourself. It would be best if you break your other leg while washing it. Then you won't have to use crutches anymore and can just sit in a wheelchair. It's much more convenient than having to prop up one leg!"
Ni Yue pretended to be angry. Without waiting for Wu Xia to refute, he climbed onto her shoulders again and used both soft and hard tactics. "Mom, I'm not kidding you. I'm telling you seriously, this matter is very important to me and my cousin, very important to our careers, and even more important to the entire society!"
"Go, go, go away!" Wu Xia's face darkened. "Whether I take a shower or not, what does that have to do with society? Stop putting accusations against me!"
"It doesn't matter, you are also a part of society!"
Ni Yue stretched out his hand to pull Wu Xia's face, his fingertips digging into the flesh. Wu Xia couldn't resist, and the mother and daughter looked at each other.
"Mom, of course I hope you live a long life, but sooner or later, you'll be bedridden and unable to move, and you'll need bathing assistance. Birth, aging, sickness, and death are objective laws that no one is immune to! Besides, life is full of surprises. You might not even be able to bathe yourself now, right?! The purpose of filming this video is to let everyone know about the niche profession of bathing assistant and to draw society's attention to the plight of the elderly and bathing. Isn't that a meaningful thing? Also, don't be embarrassed. We cover ourselves with towels the entire time during the bath, so our private parts won't be exposed. We just show our faces!"
This speech softened Wu Xia's attitude, but when she heard the word "show her face", she became disgusted again and raised her eyebrows. "No, no, no, if I put my big face on the TV screen, the whole of China will know me. I can't afford to lose face!"
After saying so much, they ended up back to square one. Every time the mother and daughter communicated, they couldn't break out of this pattern. It seemed that they had no choice but to use their ultimate move.
Ni Yue bit her lower lip and said word by word, "We won't film for free."
"What do you mean?"
"We can pay you a certain amount of benefits."
"Benefits?" Sure enough, Wu Xia's yellowed pupils suddenly flashed, and the corners of her tense mouth twitched slightly. "How much can you give?"
"three hundred!"
"Three hundred? That's too little!" Wu Xia glanced at Ni Ying, who was playing games at the kitchen table, and then turned to bargaining. "Last time, a group of people came to our neighborhood to make a movie, and I took Yingzi to be an extra. They gave us five hundred yuan for two hours, plus a free lunch!"
Ni Yue had heard Wu Xia mention this dozens of times, her ears were callused. She gritted her teeth and said, "Then I'll give you three hundred, and the price will be six hundred!"
As if afraid that Wu Xia didn't understand, he even stretched out his hand and made the number "six".
Upon hearing this, Wu Xia grabbed Ni Yue's hand, and the mother and daughter pressed their damp palms together. She couldn't suppress the smile on her face, "Okay, it's time for me to wash too!"
Ni Yue rolled her eyes to the sky and thought to herself: I can bribe you with just 600 yuan, you are worthy of being my mother!
He stood up and walked out, "Then I'll go get them upstairs!"
"Wait, let me be frank, you can't shoot the camera right in my face!"
"Okay, I'll tell the photography teacher to try to get farther shots and avoid close-ups of faces when shooting close-ups!"
I turned around and went downstairs, and couldn't help complaining in my heart: With so many things to do, it would be better to find the uncle sitting at the entrance of the alley. People in the south have a stronger sense of service!
——But who made him so eager to sacrifice his old mother and repair his relationship with his cousin!
Moving the bathtub to the third floor of an old Shikumen house is a highly technical job.
Fortunately, the two accompanying crew members had years of experience in moving heavy equipment, and with the assistance of Xu Zhiqian, the three men managed to move the two bathtub sections into the house.
Seeing so many people coming up, including several men, Wu Xia was frightened and couldn't help but back off.
Seeing this, Ni Yue was afraid that she would regret it, so he quickly came over and took her phone. "I just sent you the money on WeChat. Let me collect it for you!"
The water level in the bathtub slowly rises.
Wu Xia's body was immersed in the water, with her injured leg just resting on the edge of the bathtub. Ni Yue put a pair of waterproof foot covers on her feet and put a towel underneath.
I was afraid that she would be exposed, so I specially put a pair of disposable underwear on her when she took off her clothes.
Everything is prepared perfectly.
However, looking at the white thighs exposed above the water, Ni Yue still found the scene very funny and almost laughed out loud.
This time Xu Zhiqian was responsible for washing hair, while the two sisters each held a bath towel.
It is the hottest summer and the indoor temperature is high, so there is no need to pour water on their bodies to maintain body temperature. They can just scrub their bodies together.
Wu Xia had performed as an extra after all, so she had some self-cultivation as an actor. After lying in the bathtub, she quickly relaxed, half-closed her eyes, and ignored the camera not far away.
Ni Yue and Zhang Chenling sat on either side of the bathtub, smiling at each other tacitly. There seemed to be no gap between the two of them. They each picked up an arm and started rubbing!
After a few rubs, strips of mud began to fall into the bathtub.
"I haven't taken a shower for several days. Sorry for making fun of me. Please don't use your camera to capture the mud!" Wu Xia suddenly opened her eyes wide and instructed with an embarrassed look on her face.
"Okay, we won't take close-ups of the mud!" The photography teacher not far away responded happily.
Ni Yue curled his lips and muttered quietly: "If you can't pat your face or the mud, then what else can you pat? Pat your elbow?"
Wu Xia seemed not to hear her words, and sighed with satisfaction: "Honestly, lying in the bathtub, having someone wash my hair, someone else scrub my body, being served by several pairs of hands at the same time, it's really comfortable."
"That's right!" Ni Yue sneered, "I didn't lie to you!"
"Hmm," Wu Xia hummed in pleasure, her eyelids unconsciously sticking together, "Even Wu Zetian's happiness was just like this..."
"Mom! Mom! Mom, wake up!"
In a daze, Wu Xia heard her daughter calling her, and she started to wake up from her dream.
After taking a bath, she took a nap - the best person to sleep in the bath is like water.
He was carried back to the bedroom with a red face.
Only Ni Yue was left in the room to help her with post-bath care.
Apart from her lame leg, Wu Xia was in good health, but she had to perform the full role. Ni Yue squeezed some cooling body lotion specially designed for summer on his hand, and applied it little by little on her body, gently massaging until it was absorbed.
"Your body surface area is too large, it will consume too much body lotion!" Ni Yue joked while massaging her.
Wu Xia, however, remained silent, contrary to her usual behavior.
"Why aren't you saying anything?" Ni Yue looked up at her, only to meet a pair of moist eyes.
Yes, Ni Yue was not mistaken. A layer of mist appeared in Wu Xia's eyes and her eye sockets were red.
Could it be that she was so moved by my filial daughter that she was about to cry? Ni Yue was secretly proud of himself.
Wu Xia sniffed and choked up, "I suddenly remembered your grandma and grandpa. They didn't even have a hot bath before they left, and they left with a stench."
Ni Yue's heart trembled. During her sophomore year in Beijing, her grandmother and grandfather were both diagnosed with advanced lung cancer. They were hospitalized together and, after months of conservative treatment and no improvement, insisted on returning home to die. Unexpectedly, they passed away within a week of returning home.
Wu Xia recalled the past and showed a rare look of sadness in front of Ni Yue.
One moment, she was a mother; the next, she was a daughter again. As a mother, she believed she had a clear conscience; as a daughter, although she held her head high, she still had regrets.
Ni Yue understood Wu Xia, but he was unusually not as considerate as before. He lowered his head, pretending to refuse to establish an emotional connection, and silently rubbed the mint-scented body lotion into her rough skin.
Each generation has its own pain and regrets. Ni Yue thought that it would be better to leave his mother's pain and regrets for her to chew and digest slowly.
After a long silence, Wu Xia suddenly changed the channel and whispered, "They are having an affair."
"Huh?" Ni Yue was startled, then raised his eyes and asked, "Who are they?"
"Who else could it be?" Wu Xia's sorrowful expression faded, and she looked mysterious. She lowered her loud voice, "Your cousin, and that Xiao Xu!"
"What?" Ni Yue shook his head like a rattle. "Impossible, this is absolutely impossible!"
"That's impossible! I'm the most accurate at predicting things like this. In the past, I was always the first to discover who in the village had slept with whom secretly!"
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